Olney City Council explores free lots to spur home building

The Olney City Council discussed giving away foreclosed lots to buyers who were prepared to build on them within a year of purchase after twice rejecting bids from would-be buyers who failed to specify how they planned to use the properties.

The city has 20 foreclosed lots for sale on the Texas Communities Group website (Texascg. com), run by the Texas Real Estate Commission, with a disclosure that successful buyers must describe their intended use for each property in writing or with plans that conform to municipal codes for that specific lot.

The minimum bids for the lots range from $1,023.80 for 806 N. Ave.F to $7,829.63 for 301 W. Elm St.

Once a successful bidder is chosen, the Council must approve the sale. But the Council reject all 13 potential sales at its regular meeting on Sept. 26 saying buyers either had failed to submit appropriate plans - or any plans at all - or had failed to make deposits on the properties. The Council declined to take up the issue at a special-called meeting the following week. “We just wanted people to come to Olney and build new homes,” Councilmember Harrison Wellman said. “We wanted them to bring us plans and we give them the lot. There are 10 people on this list and not one did it right. Somehow we’ve got to make it more transparent. ”

Buyers merely needed to show “this is where the house will be, this is where the driveway will be … they can draw a box on a piece of paper,” Mayor Pro Tem Tom Parker said.

Councilmembers also appeared wary of selling to out-of-town investors - “in Fort Worth or California,” Mr. Wellman said – who wanted to buy up the cheap vacant lots and flip them.

The Council rejected a $1,451 bid by a Vancouver, Washington real estate investment company for a lot on North Grand Avenue because the company wanted to resell it.

In the past, out-of-towners have failed to pay property taxes or maintain them, requiring the city to start the costly and time-consuming process of repossessing them, Mr. Parker said.

City code mandates that buyers of city-owned property must begin building on the lots within a year of the purchase date to encourage development.

“There has to be a construction contract within 12 months or it goes back to the city,” Olney Police Detective Dustin Hudson, who handles code enforcement, told the council.

Mayor Rue Rogers said the council “discussed having people come to council with blueprints and saying here’s what we’re going to do and we’ll give you the lot.”

Mr. Parker suggested the Council table the bids until they can come up with a plan to move the lots more quickly to local buyers who intend to live in Olney.

“I’m tired of working with crayons,” he said. “We need to explore how to offer free lots.”

City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon said later that “there may be a legal issue barring the Council from ‘giving away’ the lots. We are researching this.”